Healing an Old Wound
by AaronCottrell97
Summary: Thomas has been giving Gordon and James a lot trouble lately because of all the pain they caused Emily in the past. When Emily finds out that Thomas broke his promise to her, Thomas is determined to help her realize the past is in the past and help her to forgive herself for the wrongs she once committed.


Thomas is a kind hearted and hard working tank engine, but sometimes he can be very cheeky to the other engines. The other engines were well aware of this, particularly Thomas' girlfriend, Emily, who sometimes would have to scold him for his behavior.

One day Thomas was waiting at the junction for Gordon's express. The big blue engine was usually there first and complaining that Thomas was always a few seconds late, but this time, it was Gordon who was late. When at last he arrived, Thomas was very cheeky.

"What's this? I'm the first one here? What took you so long, Gordon? I thought you were the fastest and the best. I think you need more exercise, like I always said scrap your tender and have a nice bunker. You clearly need it." And with that, Thomas steamed away laughing, feeling quite proud of himself, while Annie and were appalled by Thomas' rudeness. Gordon was so cross he spent the whole day grumbling about Thomas.

Another time he had brought some trucks down from the quarry for James' slow goods train. When the red engine finally arrived he was very late. "What's the matter, James? Getting old? On account you're very slow these days. I wouldn't be surprised if you were all rust inside. No wonder you were called 'Rusty Red Scrap Iron'!" James fumed at the remark.

The two big engines had had enough of Thomas' teasing and they met up to discuss about Thomas' behavior. Emily was in the yards taking on coal and heard the discussion. "Oh Thomas." she groaned. She knew better than anyone how cheeky he could be at times, that was just the way he was, but sometimes he could go too far for his own good. That was really the only downside of being in a relationship with him. She usually would have to deal with him herself if he went over the mark. But the thing about this was she knew why he had been giving them trouble, even though she begged him not to. She didn't want to threaten him with something like this but if it would stop him from upsetting the other engines then it had to be done.

Thomas arrived back at Tidmouth Sheds after a long day of work. He was still chuckling at what he said to James. He saw Emily resting in her berth waiting for him. "Emerald!" he called cheerfully. But she didn't look cheerful she looked serious. "Thomas, we need to talk." And she certainly didn't sound cheerful. He knew he must have been in trouble. "What did I do this time?" he asked.

"I think you know." she replied. "You're been upsetting Gordon and James with your rude remarks and it needs to stop."

Thomas was shocked to hear her say this. "How can you be be supportive of them after what they did?"

"So this is what it's about." she sighed sadly. "Thomas, I told you not to do anything to them."

"They deserve every bit of it!" he retorted, clearly he was quite angry right now.

"That still doesn't mean it's right for you to say such horrible things to them, even after what they said. Two wrongs don't make a right!" she shouted, she very nearly on the brink of crying. "You promised me you wouldn't do anything to them and you deliberately broke that promise!" The tears started to fall, a sight that broke Thomas' heart every time it happened. He instantly regretted what he had said.

"I'm sorry, Thomas, but since you broke your promise, I refuse to kiss you for the rest of the month!" she sobbed and cried harder.

Thomas' boiler went cold. No kisses for a month?! This was a pure example of a living nightmare. He may have been angry with Gordon and James, but there was no way he was going to give up her warm, soft, delicate, lips just so he can get back at them. But even worse, he purposefully broke his promise to her that he wouldn't be angry towards them after she begged him to do so. He felt terrible, he felt like the worst engine in the world. He loved her more than anything and to have gone against her wishes was the most horrible thing he could imagine.

She had only threatened to stop kissing him once before, a few months ago actually when he offered to teach Gordon and James a lesson about teasing her. The two big engines hadn't been on the best of terms with Emily after the bullying that happened several years ago and eventually they hit an old wound that hadn't fully recovered.

"_And to think you use try to be even bossier and colder than you claimed us to be._"

Emily had tried to stay calm, to hide her hurt, but she couldn't keep the tears from falling. She ran away, ignoring Thomas' pleas that they weren't serious. Thomas after glaring at Gordon and James, who feigned cluelessness, raced after Emily. He found her sobbing in the shed and listened as she let all her fears and worries spill out; that she would go back to being mean, hurt her friends, be rejected and hated. That she would never be good enough for Thomas, that she would hurt him or hold him back, that he would fall out of love with her.

"_Never._" he had said.

"_I will never stop loving you._"

He held a strong grudge against Gordon and James afterwards. That was the reason why he said all those terrible things to them. He was angry at them for going so low by haunting her with such a painful memory in her life that hadn't been healed. And now, as a result of trying to avenge her, he only made things worse. He had broken his promise to her by getting involved and that was the worst thing about this, she trusted him and he betrayed her.

Thomas rolled slowly up to her and gently touched her buffers with his. She looked up at him.

"Emily, I'm sorry for what I did. I just...I was just so angry with Gordon and James for upsetting you, I wanted to help you, I couldn't just let it slide off. I just love you so much, you're the most important thing in my life and I can't stand seeing you so sad. I swore on my life after you told me everything that I would make sure you never went through that pain ever again, and I tried to make things right, but I made things worse. I broke my promise to you, and that's the worst part. I failed you. I'm so sorry Emily."

Emily felt deeply touched and gave a small smile through her tears, which made Thomas' hopes soar. "I'm the one who's sorry, Thomas. I know you were only trying to help me get through this, but insulting others isn't going to help. I need to overcome my past mistakes, but they just bring me nothing but pain. I don't want to go back to being mean and don't want to lose you!" she said, her tears still falling.

"Emily, I've told you many times and I'll say it again, I will always love you, no matter what, and I will always stay by your side, no matter what you do, but you have to forgive yourself otherwise the past will always haunt you."

"I know, Thomas...but...it's just so hard." she weeped.

"Well don't worry." Thomas said, staring into her eyes, "I am going help you forgive yourself. And I won't stop until you are truly happy." he smiled lovingly. "Do you know what I want you to do?" he asked.

Emily looked up to Thomas and he said, "I want you to smile." Upon hearing that Emily did smile which made Thomas feel happy seeing that smiling face of Emily again.

They gazed lovingly into each others eyes. "Am I allowed to kiss you now?" he asked, hoping she had forgotten her comment about refusing to kiss him. She chuckled quietly. "Oh, shut up." she said and they came together and held a long passionate kiss. The feeling reignited their spirits after the stressful event that occurred. Emily felt her spirit lifting, feeling the warmth of the one she loves again. She knew it would take a while to let go of the past, but she also knew she would have her Thomas to help her through it.

When they ended the kiss, Thomas spoke first. "I love you, my beautiful emerald angel." Emily smiled. "I love you too, my handsome cobalt star."

Then they heard another voice. "How touching." They knew that voice. Thomas reversed back onto the turntable and turned round to see both Gordon and James.

The two big engines glared at him. Thomas wasn't surprised. While he was still angry with them, he decided an apology was needed. "Look...I'm sorry I said those things to you, alright? I was just really ticked off."

Gordon and James weren't fully convinced. "That's your apology?" Gordon asked.

"Hey, I'm apologizing to you, let's just marvel at that extremely rare occasion." Thomas responded.

"He's got a point there, Gordon." James admitted. Thomas was never one to apologize to them after being cheeky to them and this was indeed a rare occasion.

"And anyway, if anyone should be apologizing right now, it's you two. Apologize to Emily now!" Thomas ordered, he was refusing to let them into the sheds until they apologized.

The two big engines accepted defeat. "We're sorry, Emily," Gordon started, "we're sorry we said what we said."

"And, we're truly sorry about what we did to you all those years ago." James chimed in. "It was stupid and idiotic-"

"Those mean the exact same thing!" Thomas interrupted. "I'm trying OK! Let me finish!" James shouted back. "It was wrong of us to ever do something like that to you and we fully regret every bit of it." the red engine finished.

"And we vow never to do anything like that to you ever again." Gordon finished. "Can you forgive us?" they asked together.

Emily thought for a moment, she could see they being sincere and how much they truly regretted what they had done to her in the past. If she wanted to forgive herself then she had to forgive Gordon and James for what happened. Then she smiled. "Yes. I forgive you."

Gordon and James were surprised, they never thought she would forgive them but she proved them wrong. "Y-you mean that?"

"Yes, I mean it." she replied. "If I want to be able to forgive myself and put the past behind me, then I have to forgive you."

The two big engines couldn't believe it. After everything they put her though, she was actually able to forgive them. "Thank you." they said.

Thomas knew it would only be fair of him to forgive them as well, otherwise Emily would of forced him to. "I guess I forgive you too." he said and reversed into his berth beside Emily. With that Gordon and James backed into their berths. When they settled down, James started chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?" Thomas asked.

"Oh nothing, just laughing at your touching little moment. I mean you hardly qualify as handsome, let alone something as precious as a cobalt." James laughed.

This made Thomas cross all over again. "What did you say?"

"Oh no." groaned Gordon and Emily. "I said you don't come close to being handsome, as apposed to me of course, the definitive example of sheer handsomeness. A stunning ruby!" he gloated proudly.

"At least I wasn't painted black when I first came here." Thomas retorted. "Ohh." Gordon commented, he was starting to get amused. James was furious at that remark. "And what about the time you ran into those tar wagons, eh? You weren't handsome then were you? And who can forget the time you were painted like a bee, oh, but let's not forget the most embarrassing one of all, when you had to go out in a PINK undercoat, the most manly colour of them all!"

"Oh, so we're going down that route are we? Alright, at least I wasn't painted teal-green with white stripes when I first arrived. Yuck! And what about that time you ran in to the stationmasters house and twisted your front and then crashed into a wall and twisted it again? You looked like a busted piece of blue scrap on wheels." James fought back.

"Oh, now that does it!" Thomas shouted.

"Thomas, stop please!" Emily cut in. "Stop this senseless argument, please? You've got nothing to prove."

Thomas looked at her and accepted defeat. "You win this round, James." he sighed.

"Ha ha, I win!" James celebrated in his victory, quite immaturely.

Emily comforted Thomas. "It's OK, Thomas, you'll always be handsome in my eyes." Thomas smiled at her. "That's all I can ever ask for." he said, ignoring Gordon and James' laughing in the background. He was just happy to see her happy and he was going to do whatever he could to help heal her old wound.

* * *

Hey guys I hope you enjoyed this story. In case you are wondering what actually happened between Emily, James and Gordon, I am currently in the process of making a series of stories about Thomas and Emily's relationship when they first met up until my first story Fortunate Circumstances. There I will explain what happened between Emily and the others. So I hope you will look forward to it and enjoy it when it comes out. Until then rate and review.


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